Twitter Temporarily Suspends Ability To Tweet Via Text Message

(RTTNews) - Twitter Inc. (TWTR) said Wednesday that it temporarily turned off the ability to tweet via SMS, or text message, citing mobile carriers' unaddressed security "vulnerabilities."

"We're taking this step because of vulnerabilities that need to be addressed by mobile carriers and our reliance on having a linked phone number for two-factor authentication (we're working on improving this)", Twitter said in one of a series of tweets.

The move comes after hackers appeared to have gained control of Hollywood actress Chloe Grace Moretz's Twitter account earlier Wednesday, while Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey's account on the social network was hacked last Friday.

Twitter said Wednesday that it will reactivate the tweet via text option in markets that depend on SMS for reliable communication soon while it works on its longer-term strategy for this feature.

TWTR closed regular trading at $43.36, up $1.40 or 3.34 percent. In the after-hours trade, the stock further gained $0.05 or 0.12 percent.